


And Then, Kissing

by youngavengersbigbang



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-25
Updated: 2013-10-25
Packaged: 2017-12-30 10:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngavengersbigbang/pseuds/youngavengersbigbang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He really should have thought this through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then, Kissing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [capmor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/capmor/gifts).



> For Mottorawr for the Young Avengers Reverse Big Bang. I am so sorry it couldn't be meatier. The cracky "Clint gives Eli bad romantic advice" story went so very off the rails.

He’s willing to admit he hasn’t exactly thought this through.

“So where’s the fire?”

At all. He hasn’t thought this through _at all_. Eli can’t even begin to parse out what he’d been thinking. The initial plan had been simple: he’d ask Kate to meet him somewhere nice and outdoorsy. They’d go for a walk together, or just sit in the grass and talk, or maybe do something really corny like…feed ducks or whatever, he doesn’t know; he’s not a _romantic_.

He could buy her ice cream or a pretzel and they could sit on the picnic blanket he’d thought to bring (the picnic blanket that was actually his grandmother’s red vinyl tablecloth, but it was the thought rather than the execution that mattered. At least, that’s what Teddy was always saying, and Eli figured if there _was_ a romantic on the team, it had to be Teddy) and maybe she’d have some strawberry ice cream on her chin and he could just casually reach out and swipe it away with his thumb, and then, kissing.

(Most of his half-formed plans involving Kate usually ended with _and then, kissing_.)

“Eli?”

“Uh, right. Sorry.”

He was so caught up on the _and then, kissing_ part of the plan that he’d skipped a whole bunch of steps along the way, most notably what he would do if Kate said she wasn’t feeling up to heading out that day.

“You said there was an emergency,” she prompts. Overhead, thunder rumbles in warning. She’s dressed casually, in paint-splattered sweatpants and an old t-shirt. She _doesn’t_ look happy to be out and about. “So? What’s going on?” Kate pushes her fingers through her (messy) hair and glances around. She isn’t even wearing socks, Eli notes with growing panic. Like she’d just shoved her feet into sneakers and ran out the door at his SOS.

Which is probably exactly what has happened.

_You are such an idiot about these sorts of things._

“About that,” Eli says slowly. Thunder rumbles again, and the wind is picking up. A few fat raindrops spatter on the grass around them, killing his last dreams of ice cream and make outs. “I may have overstated the urgency.”

Kate’s eyes narrow.

“But quite a lot,” he makes himself continue. He reaches up to rub the back of his skull; rain is beginning to fall heavily now. Of _course_ it is.

“You dragged me out here,” Kate begins, voice low and flat.

Eli cuts her off quickly, floundering and reaching for the first excuse he can muster. “For training,” he says quickly.

“For training.”

“In adverse conditions.”

“You dragged me out here for training in adverse conditions.”

“…right.”

“Eli,” Kate says, in a tone that has him braced for the worst. Her dark hair is plastered to the sides of her face and he can see her bra through her thin cotton shirt. “Please don’t take this the wrong way but _fuck_ your training. I’m going home.”

He has to fight not to wince. He _deserves_ this. “Uh, yeah, sure,” he says, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. The rain caught inside his shoes squelches. “That sounds— Okay.”

She casts him one last murderous glower before turning and stalking back across the open field toward the hum of traffic. The rest of the tourists and natives have abandoned the park, huddling together in small groupings under pergolas and awnings. Eli stands alone, watching Kate stomp away, feeling like ten kinds of idiot and possibly the lamest guy alive.

“Well,” he mutters, squinting up at the sky. The rain is cold and relentless. “At least this wasn’t as awkward as the carriage ride.”

But…close.


End file.
